Richard Panik and Dana Tyrell were the game's first and second stars. Tonight was Panik's third straight multi-point game and he has 2 goals and 8 points over those three games. Simply put: we're starting to see the dominant version of Richard Panik re-emerge. Tanner Richard also posted back-to-back multi-point nights for the first time in his pro career.

The victory moves the Crunch back to just 1 game under the .500 mark. Unfortunately, they're 13 points out of 8th place in the Eastern Conference, as of this posting. But, if they continue to extend this 5 game streak of games where they've gotten points, who knows, they might just make this thing a little interesting before all is said and done. Tomorrow they face Adirondack again with the planned starter being Anders Lindback before he completes his conditioning stint and returns to the Lightning.

After accepting a pass from Cedric Paquette on a 2-on-1 and burying it for his first professional goal last month, the Syracuse Crunch center felt joy and relief. It took 46 games, but the drought was over.

“It definitely took a while - a lot longer than I hoped for,” Richard said. “It was pretty special for me, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team so excited for a guy like that. After the first 20 games, everyone was pulling for me and trying to get me that goal.”

Richard Panik made his season debut for Syracuse and was fairly dangerous throughout. Unfortunately, he also got his clock cleaned on a hit crossing the opposing blueline in the Second Period, which led to the game devolving into a pretty nasty brawl-fest. One silver lining is that Tanner Richard scored his first pro goal in the process.

Unfortunately, for the moment, Syracuse has fallen 9 points out of 8th in the Eastern Conference. Things do not look good right now, and they could not afford to give 4 points to Hershey like they have the past 2 nights. The Bears are currently in 9th in the conference 8 points ahead of the Crunch and are one of the teams Syracuse needs to climb over.

Kristers Gudlevskis allowed 2 goals on 22 shots for the victory. It says something about how well he's performed this season that a +.900 sv% and a win is still a bit subpar by his standards, stat-wise.

Mike Angelidis, Tanner Richard, and Vladislav Namestnikov were the game's three stars. Of note: tonight was Richard's first multi-point game of the season (all assists, naturally). As a junior, he couldn't look in the general direction of a rink without getting a couple of helpers. Hopefully this is a sign Tanner is going to have a big stretch run for the Crunch.

Syracuse has gotten points out of each of their last 6 games, going 4-0-2 in that span. They jumped over the Bears in the standings with the win tonight and are now 3 points back of 8th place in the Eastern Conference. So, as it stands right now, this retooled and suddenly much healthier Syracuse club looks poised to make a serious climb in the East. They'll look to keep momentum tomorrow night against Binghamton.